Welding machine



Jan. 15, 1957 w. G. Hass WELDING MACHINE Filed May 18, 1955 INVENTOR.

` 4g/vier Hess.

United States Patent O WELDlNGMACHlNE Werner G.`Hess,'Dea`rborn,- Mich., Aas'signolgby mesne assignments, to Dana Corporation, Toledo, Ohio, a corporation of Virginia Application Mayi 18, .f 1953,-` Serial', No.. 355,784

-`4'v Claims. (Cl. 219'130) This invention relates Ato yweldingsmachinespzandipar- .ticularly to i a. weldingrmachinehaving a headfsupporting a guide fingerA and; azweldingrodg-ina; mannertotfollow an undulatedfjoint, tofbe-.weldedgthe path of iwhichvaries `.both inthe verticali.andhorizontalV planes.

vIn .the copending applicationsio'f Werner G.'Hess, Serial No. 204,864, ledJanuaryzfS, 1951,.-for Overlapped'loint ,Weldng Device, `andnSerial No. 229,634, iiled :J une F2, ,1951,:now U. S.;Patent 2,724,036sf'granted"November.15, .1955, fonDVerlapped Joint Welding; Device,1whichwere assigned to lthe assignee ofv the;present^invention, ywelding machine are illustrated, described vand. claimed which are capable of'following an undulated joint an'd producing the weldingthereon through v'the-fuse-'ofa finger which guidesthe welding rod along the joint as thepathoftthe ljoint varies g inwardly, outwardly, yupwardly sand #downwardly.

The present invention pertainsY 'to'.additional elements of the-machine which operateineconjunction'withzlthe A-movable head and which embody-:means for removingthe :crusted iux from the end of the welding rod which would -otherwise insulate the end, and a. control structurewhich retracts the welding device from the joint when the guide lingers drops off of the ledge dening the joint. A section of a file is pivoted on the base of the machine adjacent to the point where the weld initially occurs, disposed in the path of movement of the welding rod as it is swung into welded position. The end of the Welding rod strikes the tile surface and in passing thereover the crusted nx on the end is broken from the rod so that metal-to-metal contact will occur between the rod and the metal to be welded when the rod is moved into engagement therewith. The linger adjacent to the rod guides the rod along the weld, and should the linger drop off of the ledge at the joint, a device is provided on the head which operates a switch to control a circuit which causes the head to swing away from the work and thereby interrupt the operation before damage can be done to the structure being welded.

Accordingly, the main objects of the invention are: to provide a device which supports a guide nger and a welding rod, with a control mechanism which retracts the linger and rod from engagement with the workpiece when the nger drops oft of the ledge at the joint being welded; to provide a le surface in the path of movement of the welding rod which removes the crusted flux from the end of the rod to assure metal-to-metal contact between the rod and workpiece when the rod is moved into engagement therewith; to provide control mechanisms for a welding device which assures the metal-to-metal engagement between the welding rod and workpiece when initial engagement occurs therebetween and to interrupt the welding operation when the guide finger for the device drops off of the ledge forming the joint to be welded, and in general, to provide a welding device with control mecha nism which is simple in construction, which positively controls the initial striking of the arc and which prevents the arc from damaging the workpiece when the guide linger 2,777,938 @Patented Jan. f15, @12957 ICC for the device moves out of contact withf ,thefjoint tozbe '.welded.

tion, to the following description, takenin-l conjunction with the accompanyng'drawing, wherein:

Figure .lis a broken-view in sideifelevationof yaaweldring device having control means thereon which embody features of the present invention;

Fig. 2 isa broken plan-view of the structure illustrated kin Fig. 1; and

Fig. 3 is a viewof the;y structure illustrated in.?Fig...1

lduring the movement :of the weldingheads:into'welding position.

The-welding device of ,they present inventionistsimilar i to that z illustrated and described in; the. above mentioned A.copending applications. .The. devicehastanzupper zpairof pivoted arms; 5; interconnectedfby a-,cross bar-r' 6,y .thefearms supporting a second; pairv of ipivoted' aarms 75 interconnected by across :bar 8. 'Ayspring 9, :connected tothe support for the arms :5 andto the vbar=s8Ybyra'fbracket `210,1.urges -the bar 8.toward-the..bar=6. During the'initialtzdownfwardswinging movement of.. thearms, the :guide ngerfll .'on -..the bar f-Sf'will .strike the' surfacerofthefworkpiecelz r and then move downwardly -to @engage i :the edge :of i the fflangelwhich formslan overlapped joint:1 41torbeiwelded. .Itfis-.tobeunderstoodfthat .the weldjngtoperation is per- .formed ion a-gpairf of ,chassisi frame irails'of: channel"section whichare disposed` initelescoped relation. The=pair .offanges ,12iof\ cnechassisrrailfis telescoped withintthe .-pair of: anges 13 of the other,v rail,A the degreeof ,telescoping ,being limited by ledges 15 *.'whichzare` struck-importions -iprovided :along the anges,;13, vfasi.explainedimore r,specifically in the :above:mentionedzcopendingiapplica- The cross bar 8 also carries mechanism 16 for ad- Vancing a welding rod 17 toward the joint 14 and feeding the rod during the welding operation. Flux is delivered to the joint through a nozzle 18 so that the welding operation will be performed with a submerged arc, as is the common practice. During the welding operation, the flux becomes molten, and at the end of the welding cycle some of the molten ux will adhere to the end of the welding rod 17 and will cause faulty welds when the rod is moved into engagement with the metal at the joint 14 to be welded. The lack of the metal-to-rnetal lcontact between the rod and joint will prevent the weld from occurring until after the machine has advanced some distance, sufficient to cause the crusted flux to be broken from the rod end.

In practicing the present invention, a section of a tile 19 is mounted on a head 21 in extension of an arm 22 which is secured by a pivot 23 to a bracket 24 which is mounted on the base 25 of the machine. The opposite end of the arm 22 from that supporting the head 21 has a weight 26 thereon which resists deflection of the head 21 and the ile section 19 until a predetermined force has been exerted thereon. The section of the file, as illustrated in Fig. 3, is mounted in position to be engaged by the end of the welding rod 17 after the welding device has been returned to its initial position and as the cross bar 8 is swinging forwardly to engage the workpiece to begin the next succeeding welding operation. As the arms 5 and 7 are moving to swing the cross bar 8 into engagement with the workpiece, the end of the welding rod 17 will strike the face of the tile section 19 with sufficient force to deect the tile section downwardly into position illustrated in Fig. l. The tile surface removes the -crusted flux from the end of the rod as the end and the underside of the rod pass thereacross so that a metalto-metal engagement will always occur between the rod and the metal of the workpiece at the joint. As the device is advanced along the joint, the support for the rod will move out of engagement with the tile section 19 so that the arm 22 may pivot back to its initial posi-tion, that illustrated in Fig. 3.

The forward end of the cross bar 8 also supports mechanism for interrupting the welding operation when the finger 11 accidentally moves from the edge of the ange 13. This mechanism embodies a link 3@ having a pintle 32 received by a recess in an adjusting screw 33 and a recess 34 which receives a pintle 35. In this manner, the link 30 is pivoted for swinging movement in a hori zontal plane. The forward end of the link supports a roller 36 in position to engage the surface of the ange 12 when the linger 11 engages the top edge of the ange 13. When in this position a surface 37 at the rear face of the link 30 deects a plunger 38 inwardly of a switch 39 without interfering with the circuits which control the movement of the nger 11 into engagement with the yjoint 14. Should the nger 11, however, fail to engage or thereafter become disengaged from the top of the flange 13, the roller will move outwardly an amount at least equal to the thickness of the material of the ange 13, which movement is sufficient to permit the plunger 38 of the switch 39 to move outwardly, to thereby control a circuit, which retracts the arms 5 and 7 in the same manner as occurs at the end of the welding operation, rendering the device inoperative as it Completes its advancement along the joint which was to be welded; otherwise welding would occur at a point remote from the joint which could damage the rail structure beyond repair. The swtich 39 is mounted on a bracket 41 by a screw 42 extending into a slot in the bracket which permits the switch to be adjusted thereon and retained in adjusted position by an adjusting screw 43. The swinging of the links to retracted position is effected by a rod 44 which is actuated by a piston in a cylinder (not shown), as explained in the aforesaid applications. It is to be understood that the cross link 8 also carries a compensating mechanism, not herein illustrated, which adjusts the welding rod 17 rela- 4 tive to the iinger 11 so as to have it accurately follow the joint 14 to be welded as the finger follows the undulated path of the joint.

What is claimed is:

l. In a welding device, a welding rod, means for supporting the welding rod for movement into and out of engagement with the workpiece, a section of a ilelike element, and means for mounting the section of the element in the path of movement of the welding rod toward the workpiece for removing the crusted flux from the end of the rod before the end engages the workpiece. piece. y

2. A device as illustrated in claim l, wherein mount- Iing means are provided for the lelike section which permit it to be moved out of the path of the rod as the rod passes thereover.

3. In a welding device, a support for a welding rod, means on the support for permitting its movement into engagement with a workpiece, a filelike element disposed in the path of movement of the welding rod, and means for permitting said element to deflect out of said path as the end of the welding rod moves thereacross.

4. In a welding device, a support, a welding rod on said support, a guide nger on said support, said support being movable toward the workpiece to have the linger engage the joint to be welded for guiding the rod therealong, a ilelike element in the path of movement of the rod, and means for mounting said element for retractive movement to permit the rod to pass thereover.

References Cited in the tile of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,636,104 Murray July 19, 1927 1,860,172 Chapman May 24, 1932 1,932,119 Reed Oct. 24, 1933 2,163,657 Beckman June 27, 1939 2,357,038 Whitesell *a Aug. 29, 1944 2,457,644 Crossman Dec. 28, 1948 2,634,353 Geiszler Apr. 7, 1953 2,646,649 Rhodes a- July 28, 1953 

